Climatide

Heather Goldstone / WCAI

Stretches of Falmouth's Surf Drive lie just feet from the high tide line. Sand often washes over the road during storms and has to be plowed off, creating the pseudo-dunes seen here.

I’ve been trying for a week to track down what – if any – progress has been made on the recommendations made by Falmouth’s Coastal Resources Working Group some eight years ago. I have yet to conduct a single interview, but I think the process itself has been revealing. So I’ll share.

The very first recommended action was to “establish a Town Coastal Management Committee to review proposed coastal projects, coordinate coastal activities and to inform the public concerning coastal processes.” So I headed over to the Town of Falmouth website to peruse the list of departments (which also includes committees, working groups, advisory boards, etc.). There’s the Coastal Pond Management Committee, which a member I was subsequently put in contact with (that comes later) explained does not deal with erosion issues. There’s the Beach Department, whose mission includes beach maintenance but There’s a link to the now-disbanded Coastal Resources Working Group, itself. But nowhere on that list could I find anything that might be the recommended committee. So …

Since the Coastal Resources Working Group reported to the Board of Selectmen, I decided to try there next. I emailed the chair(wo)man of the Board, Mary Pat Flynn to request an interview. She explained that the Board hadn’t taken up erosion issues in several months, but likely would at their meeting in January when they develop the coming year’s strategic plan. In the meantime, she suggested I contact Selectwoman Melissa Freitag, who she referred to as the Board’s “liaison to the committee” (which I presume refers to the Coastal Resources Working Group, but we’ll come back to that) and very knowledgeable on the subject. So …

I emailed Melissa Freitag, with slightly more success. She suggested I contact the Department of Public Works regarding any concrete plan for addressing or responding to erosion along Surf Drive (a burning question of mine that I’d mentioned in my email to her), “as I certainly haven’t heard of one.” But she also agreed to take time out of her busy end-of-semester schedule (she’s a teacher, as well as Selectwoman) next week to share her thoughts on what we should be doing – a conversation I’m very much looking forward to. But I wasn’t quite done digging, so …

I also contacted the Planning Office (seemed like a logical place to go for a plan), and was again referred to their “representative on this committee,” Alison Leschen. But when I contacted Ms. Leschen, she explained that she was not part of the Coastal Resources Working Group but rather the Coastal Pond Management Committee which, as I previously mentioned, doesn’t handle erosion issues. Like Selectwoman Freitag, she suggested I go the Department of Public Works. So …

I emailed the Department of Public Works and am anxiously awaiting a reply (I’m not implying any delay here … it hasn’t been long). Given the impassioned plea for some rational thought about climate change readiness that the Director, Ray Jack, made at yesterday’s Green First wastewater management workshop, I’m hopeful I may have found the right person. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to catch up with him during any of the breaks yesterday.

But after all this emailing around, I’m left with the distinct impression that erosion and sea level rise have turned into Falmouth’s forgotten problem. No one feels prepared to answer questions about the fate of a road that lies, literally, feet from the high tide line and is regularly flooded or covered by sand. In fact, it’s hard to even figure out who to ask, given that references to “the committee” lead either to a disbanded or irrelevant group.

A brief exchange with Select Chair Mary Pat Flynn over lunch at yesterday’s Green First wastewater workshop (it really was the place to be) provides some possible insight into what’s happened since the forward-thinking work of the Coastal Resources Working Group several years ago. She said that, quite simply, other pressing and high-profile issues leave no time to think about erosion. Wastewater management planning is being federally mandated and carries the threat of legal action if pressing deadlines aren’t met. Solid waste disposal has become a hot issue, as the often conflicting desires of private haulers and a municipal transfer station have come to a head. And then there are those pesky wind turbines. Who can blame the Selectmen for shoving everything else to the side?